There’s a group of fresh-faced golfers who are making their presence felt among the grizzled veterans, writes GARY LEMKE.
Before anyone starts to anoint Collin Morikawa as the next big thing in golf, let’s compare him with the greatest at similar stages of their lives. The benchmark is and will always remain Tiger Woods.
Both had glittering amateur careers before turning professional. But Woods was only 19 when he played at the 1995 Masters as an amateur. He made the cut. The next year, aged 20, he missed the cut at Augusta and closed out his amateur career by finishing tie-82nd at the US Open and T22nd at The Open.
At his first PGA Tour event, the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open, Woods tied for 60th. What followed next was a string of remarkable results, let alone for a rookie: 11th at the Canadian Open, T5th at the Quad City Classic, T3rd at the BC Open and then his first Tour victory, in only his fifth start as a pro, shooting 27 under par to win the Las Vegas Invitational.
Victory sent him to 75th in the World Ranking. Two weeks later he won the Walt Disney Classic to surge to 37th.
A fortnight after turning 21 he won a third Tour event, the Mercedes Championship, which he followed by winning the 1997 Masters by 12 shots. Soon after that he reached No 1 in the world for the first time. That’s Tiger.
Morikawa’s start has been almost as dynamic and he’s been mentioned in excited tones in clubhouses, locker rooms, around the practice greens and at 19th holes. And why not, even if he deliberately waited, continuing his amateur career and turning pro only at 22.
Whereas Woods won his first PGA Tour event in his fifth start, Morikawa won at the sixth attempt. Now all that remains is for him to kick on and win next year’s Masters. Those are the ridiculous heights Tiger hit, which is why the entire golfing fraternity needs to dampen expectations surrounding the young American’s future.
A sobering reminder, though: while still in his twenties, Woods won 46 PGA Tour events. Next best is Jack Nicklaus with 30. Back to Morikawa. He teed up for the first time as a pro at the Canadian Open and finished T14th, followed that with T35th at the US Open, T36th at the Travelers Championship, T2nd at the 3M Open, T4th at the John Deere Classic – won by Dylan Frittelli – and then a breakthrough victory at the Barracuda Championship, after which his world ranking moved to 90th, having ended 2018 at 2 006th. That’s still one meteoric start.
‘I know I can win on Tour right now. I have goals each week, but I also have bigger-picture goals for the end of this summer: to get my PGA Tour card and really make something out of these starts. I believe 100% I can win. I know I can shoot low scores. I’m very confident.
‘If you can’t believe in yourself, you’re already five steps behind and in a big hole,’ he added. ‘Out here, everyone is so good and all these guys can win on any given day. I want to be able to compete every single week. It’s not going to be great every week but I want to give myself a chance.
‘In college my game got to that level, where I was competing to win every week. The PGA Tour is on a different level, but I know I can do it.’
The boxes are rapidly being ticked. Victory at the Barracuda Championship gave him a two-year PGA Tour exemption.
‘I’m speechless,’ he said afterwards.
‘My heart was beating really fast. To be in that position is something I wanted to do all summer.’ What did it mean for his career? ‘I think the gates are open.’
There are shades in what he says and in the confidence he projects that will inevitably draw comparisons with Tiger.
However, the hype isn’t stopping with Morikawa. The American is only one of a foursome who are springing up as leaders of their own generation.
Matthew Wolff is the 20-year-old who won his first PGA Tour event, the 3M Open – where Morikawa was T2nd – in only his third professional tournament. That’s even quicker than it took Tiger to get on the board. ‘I’m not an emotional guy, but tears came to my eyes,’ admitted Wolff, who climbed to 125 in the OWGR.
He signed a multi-year deal with TaylorMade, which counts Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Jason Day among its Tour staff.
Wolff is said to possess a ‘unique’ golf swing which creates huge power, leaving observers open-mouthed about his potential to dismantle courses with 350-yard drives and precise iron play.
Wolff is the youngest Tour winner since Jordan Spieth, who was not yet 20 when he won the 2013 John Deere Classic. He joined Ben Crenshaw and Woods as the only men to win the NCAA individual title and a Tour event in the same year.
‘I believed I was ready, my game was ready, but that’s a big step going from amateur golf to playing for a living at such a young age,’ he said. ‘There were a lot of things in my mind, but I figured that after winning a national championship, there’s no better time to go pro.’
Then there is the 21-year-old Viktor Hovland, whose start has been pedestrian by comparison. He turned pro at the Travelers Championship in June and in his first six tournaments his best finish was 4th in the Wyndham Championship, with his world ranking rising to 143th as a result.
The Norwegian was the best-placed amateur at this year’s US Open at Pebble Beach and signed a multi-year deal
with Ping. He had also won the 2018 US Amateur at Pebble Beach, which earned him an invitation to the 2019 Masters, where he also was the leading amateur.
Also in this conversation is 20-year-old Joaquin Niemann, another former No 1 amateur, who last year secured his 2018-19 PGA Tour card in only eight starts.
Trying to determine which of the tiros will have the best pro career is impossible, but all have already shown enough to suggest that they will be strong contenders when teeing up on next season’s revamped PGA Tour roster.
They are also likely to rub shoulders on the Tour over the next couple of years, much like Tiger did with Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson. ‘We’ve worked hard and we wanted this to happen,’ Morikawa said of himself and Wolff.
‘You never know when this stuff will happen in your professional career, so for us to get these starts and make something out of them is really special. I don’t think him winning told me I could do it. I had played well in Canada and proved to myself that I was capable of doing it. After the second-place finish at 3M I knew I could put myself in contention if I played smart and played my game and had four solid, good days. That propelled my confidence into the next week at the John Deere and then obviously at Barracuda I had a very good week. I just have complete belief in myself that I could do it and I have from day one.’
By early August, Morikawa hadn’t met Woods, but that might have changed by the time you read this.
‘Obviously, when growing up I looked up to Tiger,’ he told Sports Illustrated. ‘I think everyone my age watched him. Knowing what he’s done for the game and now seeing him out here is amazing. My dream was always to get on Tour while Tiger was still competing. Luckily I’m here and he’s playing amazingly. Hopefully I can meet him soon.’
The feeling is probably mutual. You can be sure Woods will be closely watching the careers of the youngsters, but even he is unlikely to wage a dollar on which of them will blaze a trail like he did for so many years. The only sure thing is that the next generation isn’t on the outside looking in. They have barged right through the door.
